Desperate Afghans using 'WhatsApp Dunkirk' to find other ways out of the country – The Telegraph

Afghans trying desperately to escape the new Taliban regime are relying on a network of contacts across the world to find alternative ways out of the country after the airport closed. Composed of former soldiers, ex-diplomats, businessmen and friends of Afghanistan, those in the networks worked tirelessly to coordinate between local Afghans, the militaries overseeing the Kabul airlift, the US State Department, the Foreign Office and other governments willing to host Afghan refugees. Labelled a “WhatsApp Dunkirk” the groups were able to help specific Afghans bypass the enormous crowds at the airport gates to be helped over the walls by serving British and American soldiers inside Kabul airport. But once the last flights departed Kabul airport – which was left without air traffic control and remains closed to civilian aircraft – these networks shifted to finding new routes out of the country. With rumoured flights out of a dirt airstrip south of Kabul purported to cost upwards of $30,000 per seat – far beyond the means of most Afghans – those desperate to get out began looking to Afghanistan’s land borders. Afghanistan refugees arrive on an evacuation flight at Heathrow before Kabul airport closed Credit: PA Some Afghans then turned to…
Read More